My colleagues are exceptional, but there is a disconnect in understanding between upper management and the intricate demands of our technology operations, creating stress and burnout. The reluctance to replace departing team members in the tech department jeopardizes the stability of the company.

My experience has been mixed. The team is great, and the company values authenticity, which I appreciate. However, leadership is disconnected from the reality of burnout, overwork, and underpayment. Two weeks of vacation is insufficient for a healthy work-life balance.

Working from home and having flexibility with my job is the best.

I truly love that we have an HSA account that the company puts money into for us.

The best part about the culture and environment is the ability to be myself and to work with amazing people.

My First Merchants co-workers make me feel at home. I am able to be myself without feeling a fear of judgement.

I love the collaboration and innovativeness between the people who are completing the work. it is super important and helps build long lasting relationships.

Leadership should be making decisions based on cost, not making decisions on how our technology should function when they don't understand the impact or the way behind how our technology works. It severely impacts projects.

We need to have leadership allow those who are completing the work to make the decisions which will then help ensure that the proper decisions about operation processes are made properly and allow the SMEs to take a sense of ownership over projects.

Going to the doctor is easy based off of our insurance. Previously i worked at a company that had an obscure health insurance provider and it was a huge hassle to deal with because dr. offices were very confused. I'm very thankful for that.

I love the people I work with at First Merchants. I love being able to collaborate with people throughout the company in various lines of business. The people and the relationships I have forged over the years is what got me to come back.

As a company, communication isn't our strong suite. Our executives are trying their best to communicate effectively by providing monthly update emails, calls, etc. That being said, things that are communicated from Executive to Director that needs to trickle down to the SMEs usually gets missed.

The people. My people are here. I have worked for other companies and it felt like just a job. When I am here, the culture is inclusive and lets everyone feel free to be themselves. It is the reason why I have stayed here for so long.

The people and everyone allowing me to be my authentic self. These two things were the main reason I came back to first merchants after leaving for a different opportunity. The people and the ability to be my most authentic self is truly such a good feeling.

There is a lack of alignment on expectations and the perceived absence of meaningful growth and impact opportunities between leadership and their employees. Investing in career development and mentorship rather than telling us 'It's up to us' and continuing to embrace new tech can continue to help.

The high paced enviro prides workers on being flexible and on their ability to multitask. We forget this can produce terrible products and resentment towards mgmt. Corp America telling us we should love our jobs is a clever way of disguising burn out and normalizing being overworked and underpaid.

I think it is slightly embarrassing as a company for it to be common knowledge that one must leave and come back to receive the compensation they deserve. That being said, I am glad I did that so that I was able to be compensated for the work I am doing.

The best thing about all my coworkers, whether or not they are directly on my team, is that they are all willing to jump in and help each other out while also allowing everyone to feel comfortable being themselves. Being able to act like myself around my coworkers is super important to me.

Communication from the top down is lacking. It seems to have gotten better over the last year, however the communication that trickles down or is told straight to us from the exec team is a bit out of touch with reality regarding pay structure and wanting us to work more with less employees.

Leadership seems to not trust those who are doing the work when they bring up concerns about project timelines and having a lack of resources. It seems that they think we are not working hard/fast enough or that we will get it done no matter what resulting in burn out and more people leaving.

Vacation time is not good. Compared to my last company we got 5 weeks + 4 floating holidays (at minimum) that way people of other religions were able to take time off for holidays they may celebrate that others do not. I think it makes it hard for us to be diverse without those things.

I love my team so much. If it wasn't for my team and most of my coworkers, I don't think I would work here. My team is able to get so much accomplished despite having unreasonable timelines and not enough people and we still try to have fun and help each other out the best we can.